Abstract:

The honeybees occurring along transects from low to high altitude were analysed for seven separate
mountain systems in Africa using three suites of characters: morphometric characters, flight dimensional
measurements and the mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) restriction length fragments derived from the non-coding
region of COI-COII by DraI restriction. Morphocluster definition was consistent with mtDNA cluster
membership but not with flight dimensional data. When all three character suites are combined, six
different kinds of unrelated mountain bees are obtained. The only commonality among the mountain bees is
that they are larger than those of lower altitudes. Because of fundamental differences in the restriction
length fragments and other clusters obtained, it is concluded that mountain bees should probably be
regarded as ecotypically differentiated populations of the subspecies surrounding each particular
mountain.